San Jose Sharks lose to Philadelphia Flyers in overtime

The San Jose Sharks fought until the end to tie their game with the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday after falling behind by three goals early in the second period.

The only thing the Sharks were missing was a finishing touch.

Barclay Goodrow tied the game with a goal at 17:36 of the third period, but the Sharks were unable to score in overtime despite having a power play. They also couldn’t beat goaltender Samuel Ersson in the shootout in a 4-3 loss to the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center.

Defenseman Jack Thompson and center Mikael Granlund also scored for the Sharks, who salvaged a point with the comeback and are now 5-2-1 since an 0-7-2 start to the season.

The Sharks led 3-0 early before William Eklund made a comeback, assisting on goals from Thompson and Granlund with less than five minutes left in the second period.

Goodrow then tied the game in the bottom of the third. A Henry Thrun pass from inside the blue line was redirected directly to Goodrow, who batted away a check and scored near the Flyers net.

After overtime, the Sharks were unable to score in the shootout as Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith failed to convert their opportunities. Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny ​​each beat Sharks goaltender Vitek Vanecek with their shootout chances.

Goodrow’s fight against Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler at 12:09 of the second period seemed to excite the Sharks, who also played Sunday in New Jersey and didn’t look as engaged as they should have. ‘be during the first half of the match.

“We just couldn’t get into the game,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “We had effort at times, we did good things at times, but we just couldn’t play with the same energy and competitiveness as (Sunday) night.”

However, the Sharks trailed only 3-2 heading into the third period, thanks to the inspired play of Eklund and his line.

The Sharks gave up goals to Erik Johnson and Konecny ​​in the first period and a breakaway goal to Michkov at 5:09 of the second period to fall behind 3-0.

On the third goal, Smith returned the puck along the boards inside the Flyers zone, and two passes later, Michkov, who had split the Sharks defense, was alone against Vanecek before scoring his fifth of the season.

“You don’t want to dig yourself a hole like that to begin with,” Goodrow said. “But once we got there, I thought we fought hard to get it back. Obviously we would have liked that extra point, but no, I think we did a good job getting to extra time.

Thompson’s goal came at 15:29 of the second period, as he joined the rush and redirected a central pass from Eklund past Ersson to cut the lead to 3-1.

About three minutes later, Eklund continued to move his feet and carried the puck behind the net before passing it to Granlund, who fired it high and past Ersson to cut the lead to 3-2.

“You look at (Eklund), he really goes for the forecheck and is the first guy down,” Granlund said. “He’s at the top of his skating right now.”

It wasn’t until near the time of the game that Celebrini would play against the Flyers.

As of Monday morning, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky was noncommittal about facing Celebrini, saying at the time that the roster for the game was still being finalized.

Warsofsky said the Sharks had separate plans for Celebrini and fellow rookie Smith. Initially, it looked like both would benefit from occasional “development days” for at least the first half of the season. Maybe Celebrini will have fewer of those days now than the 19-year-old Smith.

Smith has had four such days this season, including Sunday night when the Sharks beat the New Jersey Devils 1-0 thanks to a 44-save performance from goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood.

Celebrini missed 12 games from October 12 to November 2 with a hip injury, but he had four points in the four games he played this season.